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China Readings for March 19th

"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner

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3. When you enjoy doing something, there is a very good chance you will become passionate or more passionate about it

4. When you are good at something, passionate and work even harder to excel and be the best at it, good things happen.

Don’t follow your passions, follow your effort. It will lead you to your passions and to success, however you define it.

Economic Musings – Who is REALLY paying in the $25bil TBTF mortgage settlement– SummaryIt’s hard to believe that such decisions are being made on such a hot button issue. I suppose the general public sees the $25bil stick and assumes the Banks are being appropriately punished. In reality it is quite the scam. The Attorney Generals and White House look like they are dropping the hammer on evil Wall Street TBTF banks while simultaneously sticking up for the average American borrower. The banks pretend they’re paying the price for past sins (with the money of the victims, the investors).

Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods – NYTimes.com– Backpage accounts for about 70 percent of prostitution advertising among five Web sites that carry such ads in the United States, earning more than $22 million annually from prostitution ads, according to AIM Group, a media research and consulting company. It is now the premier Web site for human trafficking in the United States, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. And it’s not a fly-by-night operation. Backpage is owned by Village Voice Media, which also owns the estimable Village Voice newspaper.Attorneys general from 48 states have written a joint letter to Village Voice Media, pleading with it to get out of the flesh trade. An online petition at Change.org has gathered 94,000 signatures asking Village Voice Media to stop taking prostitution advertising. Instead, the company has used The Village Voice to mock its critics. Alissa thought about using her real name for this article but decided not to for fear that Village Voice would retaliate.

China to reform, grow economy, IMF eyes freer yuan | Reuters– China cannot delay tough economic reforms, Vice Premier Li Keqiang said on Sunday, underscoring the top leadership’s push for market-based change after the sacking last week of an ambitious provincial leader who wanted a bigger state role in the economy.Li, widely expected to succeed Wen Jiabao as premier in a leadership transition that begins later this year, promised flexible policies to keep growth brisk and prices stable, with a focus on boosting domestic demand and pursuing structural reforms to make growth more stable and balanced.

The Banks Win, Again – NYTimes.com– The settlement’s go-easy-on-the-banks approach might be understandable if the banks were still hunkered down. But most of the banks — which still benefit from crisis-era support in the form of federally backed debt and near zero interest rates — passed the recent stress tests, paving the way for Fed approval to increase dividends and share buybacks, if not immediately, then as soon as possible.When it comes to helping homeowners, banks are treated as if they still need to be protected from drains on their capital. But when it comes to rewarding executives and other bank shareholders, paying out capital is the name of the game. And at a time of economic weakness, using bank capital for investor payouts leaves the banks more exposed to shocks. So homeowners are still bearing the brunt of the mortgage debacle. Taxpayers are still supporting too-big-to-fail banks. And banks are still not being held accountable.

The Benefits of Bilingualism – NYTimes.com – SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.

Water “safe to drink” after oil spill in S. China: government – Xinhua | English.news.cn– Authorities in south China’s Guangdong Province said Sunday they were working to clean oil slicks on a river which might threaten drinking water supply to a four-million-people city.A water supply company in Jiangmen city reported Saturday afternoon that a wide range of oil was found floating near the source of the city’s two waterworks on Xijiang River, said an official with the city government’s information office.

Cinda sells 16.5% of shares | Companies | chinadaily.com.cn – The State-owned China Cinda Asset Management Co Ltd has sold 16.54 percent of its shares to four investors to raise 10.37 billion yuan ($1.64 billion), and is looking for the best time for an initial public offering in both the domestic and overseas markets.
The new shareholders are the China National Council for Social Security Fund, UBS AG, Citic Capital Holdings Ltd, and Standard Chartered Plc, the company announced on Friday.

Suit against Alexander Wang in flux, to be moved to federal court with new lawyer – NYPOST.com – The $50 million lawsuit against Alexander Wang is in flux. Lawyers for former Wang employee Wenyu Lu, who slapped the fashion designer with a suit for allegedly exploitative labor practices, filed a motion Thursday to discontinue the case. The suit was filed in Queens Supreme Court this month, but Lu’s lawyer, Ming Hai, told us the case will be refiled in federal court and handed off to a lawyer specializing in labor law. Hai says he wasn’t fired and will continue to consult on the case. Wang and his brother, Dennis, are being accused of keeping sweatshop-like conditions at his 386 Broadway offices, with employees claiming they worked 16-hour days without overtime pay and suffered injuries and illnesses. Another ex-employee, Flor Duante, claimed she worked more than 90-hour weeks and was fired after filing for workers compensation. A rep for Wang told Page Six, “The claims of sweatshop conditions were completely and utterly untrue in every respect.”

Occupy Wall Street 2.0: Protesters Go High-Tech – WSJ.com – Occupy Wall Street’s open-air encampments and spontaneous demonstrations through New York City have been largely organized through Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Now, protesters said, those tools are no longer enough.